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Box Office: 'Tammy' in Close Wednesday Race With 'Transformers 4'

Both movies could earn $7 million-plus for the day, although "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is widely expected to pull ahead of the Melissa McCarthy comedy over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Melissa McCarthy's Tammy and holdover Transformers: Age of Extinction are in a relatively close race at the Wednesday box office, but the big question is how well the actress' latest comedy holds up as the long holiday weekend unfolds.

Both movies are tipped to gross $7 million-plus Wednesday. For Tammy, that includes $1.3 million earned Tuesday night as it began rolling out in theaters.

From New Line and Warner Bros., Tammy hopes to overcome dismal reviews and cross $40 million by Sunday (equally poor reviews didn't hurt McCarthy's Identity Thief). Age of Extinction, which opened last weekend, is tipped to gross $55 million to $60 million, if not more.

The $20 million road-trip comedy, marking the feature directorial debut of McCarthy's husband, Ben Falcone, is one of four films opening everywhere Wednesday. They are family film Earth to Echo, supernatural horror title Deliver Us From Evil and documentary America, from conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza.

Tammy is a key test for McCarthy and Falcone as a filmmaking team. Co-written and produced by the pair, the movie stars McCarthy as a fed-up burger joint worker who leaves her husband behind for a trip with her grandmother (Susan Sarandon) to Niagara Falls.

Earth of Echo is projected to gross $3.5 million Wednesday for a possible $17 million to $20 million five-day opening.

Relativity Media hopes to ignite the family market with Earth to Echo, about a tiny alien robot befriended by humans. Disney made the found-footage film but put it into turnaround last summer. Relativity paid a modest $13 million to acquire the movie and do reshoots.

Screen Gems and producer Jerry Bruckheimerare aiming for a $20 million opening for Deliver Us From Evil, but that could be tough unless business picks up.

Marking the summer's first studio horror film, Deliver Us From Evil is about a New York cop (Eric Bana) who teams with a renegade priest (Edgar Ramirez) schooled in exorcisms to eradicate a series of possessions striking New York City. The movie, directed by Scott Derricksonand costing roughly $30 million to produce, is inspired by the book co-written by real-life cop Ralph Sarchie.

A wild card is conservative author and filmmakerDineshD'Souza's documentary America, which expands nationwide after opening in Houston and Atlanta last weekend. America hopes to match the $6.5 million nationwide launch of D'Souza's hit documentary2016: Obama's America two years ago. That film went on to become the No. 2 political documentary of all time with $33.4 million in ticket sales.

Lionsgate is distributing America, which debunks the narrative that the United States has been a force of evil across the world through a combination of historical re-creations and interviews with some of the country's harshest critics.